Rechtsstand: 21 September 2026 — the date every statement on this page was checked against the sources below.
You need a German authorised representative — in German, a Bevollmächtigter für die erweiterte Herstellerverantwortung — if you have no establishment in Germany and you make packaging or packaged products available to end users in Germany for the first time. The duty has applied since 12 August 2026 under § 5(2) VerpackDG, which implements Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR). There is no minimum tonnage and no turnover threshold. If a German importer or distributor buys from you and opens the supply chain in Germany, that company is the producer instead and you need no representative. Sources (4)
VerpackDG § 5VerpackDG § 5VerpackDG § 6VerpackDG § 6VerpackDG § 9VerpackDG § 9VerpackDG § 13VerpackDG § 13
The test is establishment, not nationality
§ 5(2) VerpackDG has two sentences, and they catch two different populations. Both turn on the same phrase — keine Niederlassung im Bundesgebiet, no establishment in the federal territory:
„Hersteller nach Artikel 45 Absatz 3 Satz 1 der Verordnung (EU) 2025/40, die keine Niederlassung im Bundesgebiet haben, haben ihren Bevollmächtigten für die erweiterte Herstellerverantwortung vor dem erstmaligen Bereitstellen einer Verpackung oder eines verpackten Produkts im Bundesgebiet … mit der Wahrnehmung ihrer Verpflichtungen nach diesem Gesetz, mit Ausnahme der Registrierung nach § 6 zu beauftragen.“
Sentence 1 covers producers established in another EU member state. Sentence 2 covers producers established outside the EU. The obligation is the same for both, and the trigger word is Niederlassung. A German VAT number is not an establishment. A German warehouse operated by someone else is not an establishment. A German subsidiary is.
Note the timing: vor dem erstmaligen Bereitstellen. The appointment must exist before the first parcel, not after the first complaint.
Worked examples
| Situation | Producer in Germany? | German representative? |
|---|---|---|
| French shop selling to German consumers on its own site or Amazon.de | Yes | Yes — § 5(2) sentence 1 |
| Chinese or Turkish manufacturer shipping direct to German consumers | Yes | Yes — § 5(2) sentence 2 |
| US brand with a Dutch BV shipping across the EU | Yes, in Germany | Yes — the Dutch BV has no German establishment |
| Foreign supplier selling to a German retailer that resells | No — the German retailer is | No |
| Foreign supplier selling to a German hotel or factory that uses the goods itself | Yes — that is an end user | Yes |
| Foreign group importing through its own German GmbH | Yes — the GmbH | No, but the GmbH registers, joins a system and reports |
ZSVR frames the same question as a two-step test: first decide who the Erzeuger (manufacturer, responsible for the packaging's conformity) is, then who the Hersteller (producer, responsible for financing disposal) is in the member state where the packaging becomes waste. The two often coincide and, in cross-border supply chains, often do not. We work through that split in Erzeuger or Hersteller.
What the mandate has to look like
§ 5(4) VerpackDG is specific, and it is where most appointments fail:
„Jeder Hersteller darf nur einen Bevollmächtigten für die erweiterte Herstellerverantwortung beauftragen. Die Beauftragung … hat … durch eine schriftliche Vollmacht in deutscher Sprache zu erfolgen.“
- One representative per producer. Not one per stream, not one per marketplace. If you already have one, appointing a second does not replace the first — you end the old mandate first.
- Written, and in German. A tick-box in an onboarding flow is not a Vollmacht. An English-only contract does not satisfy § 5(4). Where a bilingual version exists, ZSVR treats the German text as the binding one.
- Named in LUCID. § 5(5) requires you to name the representative to ZSVR immediately, as part of your registration under § 6, and the naming only takes effect once ZSVR confirms it.
§ 6(2) no. 2 spells out what you upload: the representative's name, address and contact details, and the written mandate itself.
The one job your representative cannot do
This is the distinction almost every provider page blurs, and it is worth getting right before you buy.
§ 5(1) governs delegation to a plain third party (Dritte) and carves out two things: „Satz 1 gilt nicht für die Registrierung nach § 6 und nicht für die Abgabe von Datenmeldungen nach § 9.“ Registration and volume reporting stay with you.
§ 5(2), the representative's mandate, carves out only one: „mit Ausnahme der Registrierung nach § 6“.
| Task | Plain service provider (§ 5(1)) | Bevollmächtigter (§ 5(2)) |
|---|---|---|
| LUCID registration (§ 6) | You, personally | You, personally |
| Volume reports to ZSVR (§ 9) | You, personally — § 5(1) sentence 2 | The representative, on the reading below |
| System participation (§ 7) | Can be delegated | The representative |
| Liability for the obligations | Stays with you | The representative — § 5(3) |
One caveat, stated plainly. § 5(1) sentence 2 excludes § 9 reporting from delegation to a third party. § 5(2) excludes only § 6 from the representative’s mandate, and § 5(3) says the representative „gilt … als Hersteller“ and acts „im eigenen Namen“ — which is why we read the reporting duty as moving with the mandate. That is our reading of how the two paragraphs fit together, not a sentence you will find in the statute. Both paragraphs are linked below; if your own counsel reads it otherwise, the safe course is to file the § 9 report yourself and let the representative prepare it.
So the representative is not a more expensive version of a service provider. It is a different legal position: § 5(3) says the Bevollmächtigte „gilt … als Hersteller im Sinne dieses Gesetzes“ and acts „im eigenen Namen“ — in its own name. The obligations move. Registration is the one thing that cannot move, because it is personal to you.
What happens if you do nothing
Three separate mechanisms, and the fine is the least of them.
- You may not sell. § 13(1) VerpackDG prohibits making packaging available in Germany while you are not properly registered under § 6(1), and prohibits it again if you have not joined a system under § 7(1).
- Your fulfilment provider must stop. § 13(4) forbids fulfilment service providers from handling your goods if you are not properly registered — and ZSVR runs „einen automatisierten Datenabgleich“ so the check is mechanical, not a favour.
- Fines. § 66(3) VerpackDG sets three tiers: up to €200,000, up to €100,000, and up to €10,000 depending on the breach. Failing to register and failing to join a system sit in the upper tiers.
Our deadlines and fines dataset lists which breach carries which ceiling, each row pointing at the paragraph.
Sources
Every claim above comes from one of these. Primary law and the competent authority first; no provider marketing pages.
- VerpackDG § 5 — read 2026-09-21
- VerpackDG § 6 — read 2026-09-21
- VerpackDG § 9 — read 2026-09-21
- VerpackDG § 13 — read 2026-09-21
- VerpackDG § 66 — read 2026-09-21
- Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) — read 2026-09-21
- ZSVR — Bevollmächtigung — read 2026-09-21
- ZSVR — Erzeuger oder Hersteller? — read 2026-09-21
Razvan Toma is the founder of EPR Germany Rep and of EPR France Rep, the French sister service. He reads the statutes and the regulator's own guidance directly, and publishes what they say — including when it means telling a visitor they do not need to buy anything.
Razvan on LinkedIn ↗